WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) — What’s left of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica is likely to collapse completely before the end of the decade, NASA finds.
Since most of it collapsed in 2002, the shelf’s disintegration continued at a surprising speed due to many warm summers. At its thickest, Larsen B is about 1,640 feet deep and spans 625 square miles, but NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., found that it is loosening faster and becoming increasingly unstable.
“These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating,” study lead Ala Khazendar said. “Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone.”
Ice shelves are nature’s way of keeping glaciers from entering the ocean too quickly, thus accelerating sea level rise. Without them, it is likely that ocean height may increase at a speed which many along the earth’s coasts are simply not prepared for.
The study, which has been posted online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, used data accumulated from aircraft participating in a multiyear survey campaign to document Antarctica’s surface called Operation IceBridge, led by NASA.
A widening rift discovered in Larsen B will eventually crack its way across its entirety, Khazendar says. The free-floating remains will shatter into countless icebergs and glaciers will begin moving, unobstructed, out to sea. Unfortunately, the study also discovered that the two main tributary glaciers held by the Larsen B are moving faster.
“What is really surprising about Larsen B is how quickly the changes are taking place,” Khazendar said. “Change has been relentless.”
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.